Budget eyes free tuition
Cuomo’s plan would make college tuition free for middle class
ALBANY, N.Y. >> New York would be the first state to make tuition at public colleges and universities free for middle-class students under a state budget poised for passage in Albany.
The plan crafted by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo would apply to any New York student whose family has an annual income of $125,000 or less. To qualify the student would have to meet certain class load and grade point average restrictions, and room and board would not be covered.
The initiative is included in a $153 billion state budget proposal that passed the state Assembly on Saturday. The state Senate planned to take up the spending plan Sunday, though it was likely a final vote wouldn’t occur until well after midnight.
The tuition plan would be phased in over three years, with families making $100,000 or less annually eligible in the fall of 2017, with the threshold rising to $125,000 in 2019. About 940,000 families in the state would meet the income criteria when the program is fully implemented.
The budget also has $19 million for a new tuition award program for students at private colleges.
Cuomo called the tuition plan a “national first” on Friday.
“It says, what we thought of high school 50 years ago, is the way you should think of college now,” he said. “Why do we have free public high school? Because we made the determination as society that you needed high school. You needed it to succeed, and you needed it as a society. Well, today, college is what high school was . ... This will make college accessible, tuition free.”
The budget also includes provisions allowing the ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft to expand upstate and would raise the age of adult criminal responsibility from 16 to 18.
The last proposal emerged as a top priority for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and other Democrats and was one of the greatest sticking points for a budget. The agreement would raise the age slowly, to 17 in October 2018 and to 18 a year later.
Under the deal, young offenders would no longer be incarcerated in adult prisons and jails but would go to juvenile facilities where they could receive additional rehabilitation and treatment. Non-violent offenders could apply to have their criminal records sealed after a 10-year waiting period.
Similar reforms have been proposed in North Carolina, the only other state with such a young age of criminal responsibility.
After years of failed attempts, Uber and Lyft finally would be able to move into upstate cities such as Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester and Albany. The ride-hailing apps have been limited to the New York City area but are expected to begin service upstate 90 days after the budget is approved.
The budget also includes $200 million to fight heroin and opioid addiction, $2.5 billion to protect water quality and upgrade the state’s aging water and sewer systems and the approval of $2.5 billion to address homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing. It has an affordable housing tax credit for New York City developers and increases school funding by $1.1 billion to $25.8 billion.
Tighter campaign finance laws, term limits for lawmakers and new rules restricting outside income were left out of the budget again this year. Following widespread complaints from last year’s elections, Cuomo proposed changes, including early voting and automatic registration, but those weren’t included in the final agreement either.